Potion Commotion!
by Roxelle777
Summary: After learning how to make Emotion Potions in Sorcery class, Zandar and James decide to make a love potion for Princess Hildegard. However, how will James react when Sofia ends up getting the potion instead! Prequel to "The Shoemaker's Daughter". Rated T just in case.


**A/N:** This is a prequel short to my first story "The Shoemaker's Daughter". Just FYI, Sofia and James will not be together at the end of this story! This is just a story showing how James first started to realize that he liked Sofia as more than just a friend. If you are looking for relative closure, read "The Shoemaker's Daughter". I am also planning on writing a story where Sofia finds out her feelings as well, so be sure to look for it! Please no mean comments or reviews. If you don't like it, don't read it. But I really hope you all like it! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Sofia the First, but wouldn't that be cool if I did? I wish.

 **Potion Commotion!**

"Prince James!"

James woke with a start at the sound of a ruler slapping against his desk.

"How many times must I tell you not to sleep in my class?!" Cedric growled at him. Ever since he had 'volunteered' to be the substitute for the royals' sorcery class, he had somehow been stuck with the job whenever the fairies were out.

"Sorry, sorry," James answered him, but that was a lie. He couldn't care less about the class, especially when Cedric was teaching. He was so _boring_.

"Really, Prince James, you are 15 years old now. When are you going to grow up? Anyways class, as I was saying before make sure you look over your notes from today's lesson. There's going to be a test on it at the end of the week."

"Ugh," James groaned. There was _always_ a test.

"Class dismissed!" Cedric announced, and swiftly left the classroom. Many of his students stayed behind to mingle amongst themselves as they headed to their next class. James gathered up his stuff and tried to wipe the drool off his desk with his jacket sleeve when Sofia, his step-sister, walked up to him.

"James, you really shouldn't sleep in class," she chided gently.

"Yeah, yeah, I know" he said dismissively. "Hey Sof, can I borrow your notes?"

"Here," she replied, handing him a pile of neatly written notes. "I took extra notes for you just in case this happened again."

James smiled at her, "You know me so well. Thanks."

"No problem," she smiled back, "and don't forget we have flying derby practice after school today."

"Got it."

"Well, I'd best be off to my princess classes, I'll meet up with you later, okay?"

James nodded, "Sure, see you then," He waved goodbye as she headed out the door before turning to look at his notes. "Alright let's see…emotion potions. One for each emotion…each potion has a different set of ingredients…can be helpful in fights to distract enemies blah blah blah….can be very dangerous if used incorrectly blah blah blah… absolutely do not use love potions for may not be reversible…once the target smells the potion, they will feel that emotion towards the first person they see. Hm, Seems easy enough."

"Hey James!" James turned to see his best friend Prince Zandar walking over to him.

"Hey man, what's up?" James greeted him with their standard, boys-only, handshake.

"So, I've been thinking about today's magic lesson…" Zandar started, "and I'm going to try to make a love potion for Hildegard so she'll fall in love with me. Will you help me?"

James felt like there was something important he was supposed to remember about the love potions, something that was in the notes Sofia had left him, but he couldn't think of it. "Sure, I'll help! This'll be brilliant!"

As soon as the bell rang for lunch, James booked it over to the magic lab to meet Zandar. Shutting the door behind him, he walked over to the table where Zandar was already working on the potion.

"James, you made it!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Of course! Anything to help out my bud!" James answered back. He put down his backpack and looked at the book on the table. "So, are these the ingredients we need for the potion?"

"Yep, and I've got them all picked out already. Desmond found a lot of the ingredients we need from the greenhouse, so I persuaded him to get some for us."

"Brilliant! Then let's get started!"

The boys started mixing together the ingredients and, every once in a while, checking the book to make sure they were putting in the proper amount. Once they had a mixture that didn't blow up in their faces, they decided they had successfully created a love potion.

"Looks like we have your potion for Hildegard all ready to use," James announced proudly.

"I'll say. One whiff of this and Hildegard will be falling for me in no time," Zandar agreed. "So James, are you going to make a potion for anyone?"

"Nah," James answered, shaking his head. "I'm not really interested in anyone right now."

Zandar rolled his eyes, "Sure you're not." He said sarcastically with a huge smirk on his face.

James frowned. "What? I'm not."

"If you say so," Zandar shrugged. "I've just been thinking that you and Sofia seem awfully close these days, if you know what I mean."

James nearly fell out of chair, "You think I have a crush on Sofia?! She's my sister!"

"Step-sister," Zandar corrected, "and you have to admit, you guys do spend a lot of time together, even if you do live in the same castle."

James opened his mouth to protest, but stopped. He thought back to the past week and realized that nearly every part of the day he had spent with Sofia. The only time he wasn't with her was when she was hanging out with her animal friends or at night. And even then there were some nights when she would ask to sleep in his room if there was a really bad storm or if she had had a nightmare.

 _But that's normal for siblings, isn't it?_ He thought to himself, but again wasn't convinced. He didn't spend that much time with Amber, after all, and they were twins. If anything _they_ should be spending more time together.

 _But Sofia and I have more in common, so of course I'd spend more time with her than Amber,_ he decided.

"You're crazy, Zandar," James finally told him, after having finished the debate inside his head. "We just have a lot in common is all."

"If you say so," Zandar conceded, "I still think you guys would be cute together though."

Before James could respond, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. James grabbed the potion and put it in his pocket as he and Zandar ran out of the room.

"Hey Amber, have you seen James?"

Sofia was in the lunch room looking for her step-brother. It was almost time for lunch to end, and she wanted to make sure he got the last bit of notes from class that she had forgotten to give him.

The blonde shrugged uncaringly, "Do you think I pay attention to where James is always running off too? Go ask Zandar."

"I can't find him either," Sofia answered back, "I'm starting to worry."

"Oh Sofia, I'm sure their just hanging out and playing Dazzleball somewhere." Amber assured her.

"Actually, I think they are working on an enchanted science project," Desmond piped in. "Zandar asked me for some ingredients for something they were working on."

"See Sofia?" Amber said dismissively, "I told you they were fine."

"Thanks Amber. You too, Desmond," Sofia curtsied. "I'm going to go give him his notes."

"Tootle-loo! Now as I was saying, he-"

Amber had gone back to gossiping with her friends as Sofia headed to the enchanted science room. She reached the hallway when the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Just then, she saw James and Zandar running out of one of the rooms in her direction.

"Oh, James! I have some more notes for you…"

"Sofia, look out!"

 _THUD!_

It was too late; James had run right into her. They both fell the floor as papers flew everywhere and their stuff went all over the ground. James rubbed his head and offered a hand to help Sofia up.

"I'm so sorry Sof, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, picking up their things that had spilled onto the floor. "Just a little shaken up."

"Let me help you," James offered, picking up her papers. "Are these notes from Sorcery class?"

Sofia nodded, "I didn't finish the last page of notes when I gave you the rest of it, so I wanted to make sure you got it."

James blushed ever so slightly, "Gee, thanks Sof. You didn't have to do that."

"I know," she smiled brightly back at him. She looked back at the ground and noticed a brightly lit bottle on the ground. "Is this yours James?"

"Wait, Sofia!" James tried to say, but Sofia picked up the open bottle and smelled it.

 _Oh no,_ James thought, _my step-sister smelled the love potion I made and is looking right at me. She's going to fall in love with me. How am I going to explain this to mom and dad?!_

Sofia blinked a few times, "James?" she asked, looking him right in the eyes.

James gulped, "Yeah, Sof?"

"This is some really weird smelling perfume." She told him with her nose crinkled up and handed him the potion.

James stared blankly at her, "You don't…feel different?"

"No, should I?" She asked curiously, cocking her head to the side.

"Uh…no. Never mind."

"If you say so," she shrugged. "I'll see you at practice then!"

James waited until Sofia was out of ear shot before turning to Zandar in shock. "Why didn't the potion work? It should have worked right?!"

"In theory, yes," Zandar agreed. "Maybe it takes some time before the potion actually takes effect?"

James nodded. "Yeah, yeah that must be it."

"Or she already has a crush on you," Zandar joked and James punched him in the arm.

"Come on, like that would happen. Just make sure you give the rest to Hildegard."

James handed him the rest of the potion, and they headed off to class.

For the rest of the day, Sofia continued to act normally towards James, which drove him nuts. He couldn't figure out why she wasn't falling for him. He was an attractive guy, if he said so himself. Not to mention charming and athletic. He was the complete package, wasn't he? So why wasn't she in love with him!

 _Wait, what am I thinking?_ James chided himself, _I should be happy that the potion isn't working._

"James,"

 _So why am I so upset that it's not working? Why do I want her to like me?_

"James,"

 _And what will happen if the potion does work? How am I going to turn her down without hurting her feelings?_

"Hello, James? Are you there?"

James opened his eyes to see Sofia just inches away from his face, "S-Sofia!"

Sofia pulled away, hands on her hips. She was dressed in her flying derby uniform and James couldn't help but noticed how form fitting it was on her. Had she always looked this good in her uniform?

"I've been trying to get your attention for a while now," Sofia told him, taking his attention away from her clothing to what she was actually saying. "Sir Gillium has some new team plays he wants us to learn. We need to make sure we have them perfect before our next race."

"Uh…yeah. Practice."

Sofia frowned at her teammate's less-than-enthusiastic response. "James are you sure you're alright?"

Sofia put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature, making him blush furiously. He quickly turned his head away so she wouldn't see his face.

"I-I'm fine! Let's just get practicing!"

"Okay…" Sofia replied, not at all reassured. But she trusted her brother to at least tell her the truth if something was really wrong.

Sofia showed James the play book of the new tricks they were supposed to learn, as well as the ones they already knew well, but should keep practicing. After looking them over, the two got on their horses and headed to the course. Practice was the same as always, and James was thankful for that.

"Boom goes the cannon!" he cheered after another successful play. "We're unstoppable today Sof!"

Sofia giggled, returning James' high five. "We do make a pretty good team, after all."

James smiled at her. Her laugh was so cute; had she always laughed like that? He couldn't remember. And her eyes, why did they seem so blue and captivating all of a sudden? Did they potion make her more desirable? No that wasn't it.

 _I guess I just never noticed this about her before…_ he decided.

Sofia got off her horse and James tried to act as normal as possible. Practice was over, so now all he had to do was survive the ride home and then he could lock himself in his room until this whole potion thing blew over. He was confident that he was only feeling this way because he thought the potion was affecting her. Obviously it wasn't like he actually had feelings for her. That would be crazy.

On the way home, James noticed some ominous clouds hanging overhead. _I hope it doesn't storm tonight…_ he worried looking up above him. Personally, he didn't care about storms because he slept through anything. Sofia on the other hand… he looked over at her but she was smiling happily as she read her latest book, not a care in the world.

 _Well, I'm sure it'll be fine,_ he decided, kicking back and relaxing for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the night was normal. Baileywick made sure everything was ship-shape for the royal dinner, and everything else for that matter. The king was busy as always, and the queen stayed by his side for most of the night. Amber went to her room to plan her next tea party and Sofia did what she always did: helped out around the castle with her animal friends. James took this opportunity to practice his sword skills and take his dog Rex for a walk. By the time he finally made it back to his room it was very late. He changed into his pajamas, which were really just some comfortable pants. He decided he didn't really need a shirt. He jumped into bed when there was a knock on the door.

James groaned. Who could possibly need him at this hour?

"James?" Sofia asked sheepishly as she slowly opened the door. "I'm sorry to disturb you when it's so late."

James face lightened up when he saw her, "That's okay Sof. I was just about to go to sleep. What's up?"

"Well…" just as she was about to explain herself a crack of thunder sounded that made the whole room shook. Sofia crouched down where she was and covered her ears in fear.

 _Oh, that's right,_ James reminded himself, _she's afraid of thunderstorms._

James pulled aside some of the covers on his bed, "Come here Sof, you can sleep in my room tonight."

Sofia gratefully crawled over to the bed and snuggled under the covers. "Thanks James".

"No problem," James replied, and at first he thought it wasn't. It was just another stormy day like any other. But when Sofia snuggled up next to him for warmth, James froze. He suddenly noticed how warm she was and how good she smelled.

 _Just like strawberries,_ he thought. He could feel his heat beating faster and faster as she slept on like always.

 _I can't take any more of this! If this keeps up, I'll…_ James didn't even finish his thought. Instead, he jumped out of bed and grabbed an extra pillow and blanket from his closet, bringing it over to the couch he had in his room.

Sofia sat up, concerned, "James, is everything okay? I didn't make you uncomfortable did I? I thought you were okay with me sleeping in here when I was scared, but if you're not…"

 _Oh great, now I'm making her feel bad!_ He thought.

"No, Sof, you are always free to come and sleep in here when you're scared. I just think….you know…we're both older now, and you're a girl…and I'm a guy…" James' face was bright red and he was glad the lights were off so Sofia couldn't see him. "Anyways, I just feel like sleeping over here on the couch tonight! You can stay on the bed."

Sofia sat there, not saying anything for a moment. Then she got up and left the room. _Did I make her upset?_ James wondered, but a few minutes later Sofia came back with a bunch of bed sheets.

"Since you don't feel comfortable sharing a bed anymore, why don't we have a sleep over and make a fort instead?" Sofia asked innocently, holding up the sheets in her hands.

James smiled. She was always so considerate. Although he had his doubts that the fort would help this particular situation, he helped her set it all up anyways. He just made sure that it was a _very_ big fort. It was fun putting everything together, and they stayed up for hours telling stories and pretending to go on adventures. It reminded James of when they were kids. He remembered how much fun they used to have playing in the treehouse, pretending to be pirates. Or when they snuck the trolls into the castle to play their music. Everything they did was a blast, and they were always together.

Most importantly, James remembered when he first met Sofia. He had told Amber that she wasn't the fairest of them all anymore, now that Sofia was here. He had meant it as a joke, just to tease his sister, but he had hidden some truth in that statement too. He did think Sofia was prettier than any other girl he knew. How had he forgotten that? As he looked at Sofia sleeping next to him in the fort James started to realize…

"I think I like you, Sof," he said quietly to himself. He thought he saw her smile slightly, but was sure it was just his imagination.

James frowned. He wasn't supposed to be the one who fell in love here though, she was. She was supposed to be fawning all over him after sniffing the potion, so why wasn't she?! And then it hit him.

 _The potion must have worked! She must have been doing all these things throughout the day because the potion did work, but she was just trying to be discreet about the fact that she liked me! That's why I've been noticing things about her, not because I like her! Well, maybe I do…I don't know!_

"Tomorrow," he decided. "Tomorrow I'll confront you and sort all of this mess out once and for all."

The next morning James woke up on the floor. Confused, he looked around him and realized he was in the fort that he and Sofia had made the night before.

 _Sofia, that's right! I have to ask her about the potion…_

"Prince James, you are late for school. Please hurry and change right away," Baileywick informed him.

"Argh!" James groaned and he scrambled to get ready.

He ran down the halls to the coach that was waiting to take him and his sisters to school. James would've asked then, but he really didn't want Amber's 'opinions' interrupting. He would just wait until they got to school.

After what seemed like forever to James, they arrived at the school. The three continued up the stairs to the entrance, but James pulled Sofia back.

"What is it James?" She asked inquisitively.

"There's something I have to ask you Sof," James began. "I-"

"James!" Prince Zandar interrupted, running up to the two of them.

"What is it Zandar?" James asked irritably. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"There's something you need to know about the…you know. It never worked," he informed James.

"What?!" James yelled. "What do you mean it didn't work?"

"I gave it to Hildegard yesterday and she told me 'Why are you shoving this disgusting smell in my face?!' So I went back to check the book, and we were missing the final ingredient. When I asked Mr. Cedric about it he told me that all we had created was a worthless potion that did absolutely nothing but cause a foul smell."

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. All this time he had been worrying about a potion that didn't do anything. All the times he thought Sofia might have been flirting with him was really her just acting normal. Absolutely nothing had changed except his feelings towards her actions.

"But that means…I really do… oh man…" James mumbled.

"Are you okay James?" Sofia asked worriedly, and placed a hand on his forehead. "You look a little pale."

James pushed her hand away, flustered, "It's nothing!" He yelled and ran inside.

James went straight to the boys bathroom and after checking to make sure no one was there, locked himself inside. He took a few deep breaths and looked at himself in the mirror. He was a complete mess. The potion was fake. He almost told Sofia he thought she liked him. He almost told her how he felt.

"I can't believe this is happening," he told himself, but he knew it was true. "I really do like her. I like Sofia."

And once he acknowledged that, there was no going back.

 **The End**


End file.
